The Fruits of a Hangover

Posted on Friday June 19th, 2020 @ 15:13 hours by Mayterial Droz

Mission: Safe Passage
Location: Cargo Hold, SS Fawkes
Timeline: MD01 - 1021
869 words - 1.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Onyx had been hard at work performing his role as an ordinary deckhand. Inventory control, of course, was paramount to any cargo ship. Each container, each skid, each crate of product holds value. Even if it is only a fraction of a fraction of a credit, that holds value to someone. He remembered his days well listening to his grandfather go on and on about how people pay a fortune for a product, yet pay mere slave wages for the ship transporting it. As with most things, it was a race to the bottom. He heard stories about how they continually lost money every year before the brokers finally were able to budge to raise the rates. Everything had to be taken into account. Wages, insurance for ship and cargo and crew, fuel, repairs, parts for repairs, tools for the parts for repairs, everything had to be factored in. Onyx, being the curious person that he is, knew the basics of what happened during a cargo claim, and how that could sink an operation into the red faster than it took a Klingon to accept Bloodwine. With that mindset, Onyx did his duty inspecting the cargo, completely immersed in his task.

Having secured a good haul from Groud, the Ferengi trader on the station, Mayterial needed to make sure someone was overseeing the proper handling of that cargo, the future deal depended on it. When she stepped into the bay she spotted a young man she'd not seen before but somewhere, vaguely, rang a bell. That usually didn't bode well for her, "Hey! What the hell are you doing here?!" She shouted to get him on his heels, her voice echoing across the bare walls of the bay.

The voice of an angry woman rocked Onyx off his feet practically as he was face to face with a once intoxicated bar patron to a now very angry, possibly lethal freighter Captain. His blood pressure shot up like a rocket faster than his heart could pump fear into the deepest bowels of his appendix. Onyx was afraid, he was very afraid.

"Oh, Captain!" Onyx took a deep breath, visibly in a state of surprise. "I'm sorry I didn't know you where there."

May felt his fear ooze from him, she was rather pleased with that. With him on the back foot it would be easier for her to determine what he was doing there, "What are you doing in my cargo bay?" Not giving him any room to weasel his way out of this.

It took a moment of silence for Onyx to realize that she had no memory of him. A sinking feeling of dread that his new job was over before it began was not at all welcome on the poor young man. He spoke slowly not in a disrespectful way, but in such a manner as anyone coming down off of heart failure would speak.

"N..Na..ali ordered me to inspect the cargo and cross reference it to the manifest. I'm your new deck hand."

Onyx dared not to shift his eyes away from her eyes, and when that was impossible he focused it on her forehead.

"We met last night at the bar. Remember? You commented about how I'm not old enough to know you are not a lady?"

Somewhere in the distance May was starting to hear a bell ring. She couldn't quite place him, but it sounded like he had met her, and that he was here on the command of the boatswain "Right." She didn't at all sound convinced, "So. How are we looking?"

Onyx blinked a few times as he came up with his answer.

"Everything seems to be here where they should be. I apologize if I am being a little slow, I am getting used to how inventory is managed here."

Mayterial shook her head, "Sorry if I startled you. I have a bad conscience." She pointed at the large containers stacked against the wall, "This Groud's wares?"

Taking a look at the manifest, Onyx realized that Nali did not give Onyx that information as to who belonged to what in terms of names, only that manifests numbers belonged to certain cargo, each one numbered by serial number. Looking to see which ones she was talking about, Onyx knew that specific cargo, and knew that everything belonging to that manifest number was there.

"I have no idea, Nali did not give me any names. But everything that goes with that container is still secured and accounted for."

Due to the name drop Mayterial remembered why she had come here, "Oh yeah, Nali is no longer working for us. She got arrested by a couple of Federation police officers this morning," She shrugged a bit, "they didn't tell me why, but we're in the market for a new Bosun, so I'll make sure they introduce themselves when they start." She stood there awkwardly for a moment before giving a nod and then turning on her heels and exiting the cargo bay. That had been super awkward, perhaps it was a good idea to stop drinking so heavily.

[OFF]

Mayterial Droz
Captain

&

Carl Clarks III
Deck Hand (Ordinary)

S.S. Fawkes